Inflatable life raft and sea anchor assembly



March 12, 1957 R. BICKNELL 2,784,425

INFLATABLE LIFE RAFT AND SEA ANCHOR ASSEMBLY Filed June 23, 1954 IN V ENTOR ROBERT BICKNELL FIG. 3

ATTORNEY United States Patent INFLATABLE LIFE RAFT AND SEA ANCHORASSEMBLY Robert Bicknell, Washington, D. C., assignor, by mesneassignments, to The Garrett Corporation, Los Angeles, Calif., acorporation of California Application June 23, 1954, Serial No. 438,682

4 Claims. (Cl. 9-11) This invention relates to the association of asea-anchor and its line with a life raft and especially a life raft ofthe inflatable type.

Its chief objects are to provide an assembly in which the sea-anchor,permanently connected to the raft by its line, will be instantly andautomatically cast, for functional relationship, upon the inflating ofthe raft; to provide for compact and non-obstructive stowage of theanchor and its line; to avoid entanglement of the line; and to providethese advantages in the case of a reversible raft, adapted to have thesame structural characteristics and the same manner of operation withthe raft either side up.

Of the accompanying drawings:

Fig. l is a fragmentary elevation of an inflated raft having thesea-anchor associated with it and in stowed condition.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary section on line 22 of Fig. 1, with indication ofthe automatic anchor-casting operation.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary elevation of the assembly as it appears afterthe anchor has been cast.

The raft, of the reversible type, comprises two endless, tubular,water-proof fabric buoyancy members 10, 10 secured to each other and tothe usual fabric floor 11 throughout an annular zone of contact andprovided with the usual means, not shown, for inflating them. The usuallife line 12, festooned about the raft, is secured to it by the usualloops 13, 13 having their anchorage in the outboard crotch between thebuoyancy members.

The sea-anchor assembly comprises a bucket-shaped fabric anchor 14having its rim connected by a plurality of circumferentially spacedcords 15, 15 with an anchorline 16 which has its other end permanentlytied to one of the life-line loops 13.

To provide a fabric wrapping for holding the anchor and its line incompactly folded condition in the crotch of the buoyancy members a pairof flaps 17, 18, permissibly being parts, as shown, of a single sheet offabric, are seamed to the buoyancy members respectively at 17 and 18 andare provided at their outer margins with automatically-releasingfastening means such as the respective mating elements of a series ofsnap-fasteners 19, 19.

When the flaps 17, 18 are parts of the same sheet of fabric, as hereshown, the anchor line 16 preferably ex tends through a hole in the saidsheet, between the bases of the flaps, at the position of the linesconnection to one of the life-line loops 13, so that tightening of theline will not put undue strain upon the fabric sheet.

In Fig. 2 the anchor line is shown as being looped in figure-eightfashion, with the loops in vertical or inclined positions, for clearnessof illustration, although they preferably are horizontally disposed forcompactness of 2,784,425 Patented Mar. 12, 1957 stowage between thebuoyancy members when the latter are collapsed.

In the operation of the assembly inflation of the buoyancy members toabout the condition of the stowage flaps 17, 18 as shown in full linesin Fig. 2 automatically causes the elements of the snap-fasteners 19 toseparate, thus freeing the flaps from each other as indicated by theirdotted line positions in Fig. 2, and the sea-anchor 14 and its line 16are thus automatically released for functioning. The flaps 17 and 18,when they are parts of a single piece of fabric as above suggested, ofcourse must be of such short length in relation to the opposite wall ofthe container of which they are a part (Fig. 2), and in relation to thepositions 17 18 at which they are seamed to the respective buoyancymembers 10, 10, that the rounding of the buoyancy members by inflationwill disengage the snap fasteners 19, 19 by pulling the flaps away fromeach other.

In the appended claims, the portions of the walls of the buoyancymembers 10 that are adjacent the flaps 17, 18 are referred to asflexible wall elements; and the said flaps, their seam strips at 17a,18a, and their snapfasteners 19 are referred to as a holding device.

Various modifications are possible without departure from the scope ofthe invention as defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In combination with an inflatable life raft comprising two flexiblewall elements that are moved away from each other by inflation of theraft, a sea anchor assembly comprising a sea anchor and a flexibleanchor line permanently connecting the sea anchor to the raft, and aholding device releasably securing said line in folded relation, andalso said sea anchor, adjacent at least one of said walls, said holdingdevice comprising a flexible sheet element, means securing said elementto one of said walls and releasable fastening means on said sheetelement, said holding device also including additional releasablefastening means engaging said first mentioned fastening means and meanssecuring said second mentioned fastening means to said other inflatablewall in a position spaced from the position of securement of said sheetelement to said first mentioned wall, whereby tension of said holdingdevice, due to inflation of said walls, releases said fastening deviceand sea anchor.

2. The combination as recited in claim 1 in which the raft comprises twogenerally round inflatable buoyancy members defining a crotch betweenthem and wherein said walls are disposed on opposed sides of said crotchso that rounding of said members during inflation Widens the crotch,thereby expressing said sea anchor.

3. A combination as defined in claim 2 in which the crotch, for theholding of the sea-anchor and its line therein, is on the outboard sideof the raft.

4. YA combination as defined in claim 1 in which the holding device ison the outboard side of the raft.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,362,962 Bingham Nov. 14, 1944 2,444,859 Sturtevant July 6, 19482,686,323 McCarty et al Aug. 17, 1954 FOREIGN PATENTS 18,005 GreatBritain Aug. 27, 1908 557,220 Great Britain Nov. 10, 1943

